Nestlé's big push with big spokesman moves into 'Sweet Seats' phase

Shaquille
O'Neal will grace the wrappers of 26 million Nestlé
Crunch bars starting next month, in conjunction with an instant-win
"Sweet Seats" contest that will send one winner to Los Angeles to meet
Shaq and watch a Lakers game from courtside.

Nestlé, a longtime sponsor of the NBA, has typically run
some sort of on-wrapper offer tied to the league and the company's former
spokesman, Grant Hill. But ever since signing O'Neal to an endorsement
deal just before the All-Star Game, Nestlé has been running a full-court
press, first launching a general television ad starring O'Neal and following
with a spot specifically tied to the promotion.

Produced by Dailey & Associates of West Hollywood, Calif.,
the spot will air during the NBA playoffs and on non-NBA programming.
Print executions will appear in Sports Illustrated, SI for Women, ESPN
The Magazine, Vibe, US Weekly and NBA Inside Stuff.

Dedicated point-of-sale materials will include a 7-foot stand-up of
O'Neal. Four different wrappers will feature images of O'Neal, with
the instant-win component printed on the inside. Secondary prizes will
include a "Shaq Locker" packed with a full uniform and an autographed
ball.

O'Neal also is involved in Nestlé's "Hot Shots" program, which
asks teens to send a videotape of themselves making a great basketball
play. Ten winners will be flown to Los Angeles to the third annual Nestlé
Crunch Hot Shot camp, where they'll go one-on-one with O'Neal.

Along with its league deal, Nestlé also sponsors the Lakers and
the Anschutz-owned Staples Center.

CONNELLY RETURNING TO NFL: Jim Connelly is expected
to return to the NFL after a 21¼2-year absence, as managing director
of NFL Europe in the London office. Connelly headed the NFL's overseas
operations when he was vice president, international from 1986 to 1993.
During that stint he helped hire present senior vice president of NFL
International Doug Quinn, to whom he'll now report. Connelly
later was senior vice president of consumer products at NFL Properties
Inc., a position he left in the summer of 1998.

During his time away from the league, Connelly worked for a short-lived
Internet start-up and consulted for several companies that market fan
affinity cards. He joined the board of directors of one such company,
New York-based Smartix.

Connelly has made a three-year commitment to work out of London and
plans to return to the United States after that.

Bill Peterson, who was managing director of NFL Europe, left
the league last summer to work for Philip Anschutz's sports holdings.

NBA, MILK TEAM UP FOR TOUR: The NBA will team with
the American Dairy Farmers and Milk Processors to stage a 100-city tour
called the "Chocolate Milk Mustache Taste Sensation Mobile." Three trucks
will travel to state fairs and other high-traffic locations setting
up tents to distribute nutritional information, offer samples of unusually
flavored milks and give visitors a chance to take their pictures with
milk mustaches in front of an NBA logo backdrop. The photos will then
be automatically entered into a contest where three national winners
will appear in a milk mustache print ad in NBA Inside Stuff, and get
a free trip to the 2002 NBA All-Star Game in Philadelphia. Each market
also will select three local winners.

Separately, the "Got Milk?" campaign is title sponsor of a three-on-three
traveling soccer tournament produced by Summit Sports. The tour,
sponsored by Procter & Gamble's Sunny Delight last year,
is now affiliated with Major League Soccer for the first time. The American
Dairy Farmers and Milk Processors have sponsorship deals with both MLS
and the NBA.

INTERPUBLIC ADDS SPORTS MUSCLE: The boards of directors
at Interpublic Group and True North Communications probably
didn't have sports marketing on their minds when they announced a merger
of the two conglomerates last week, leapfrogging Interpublic into the
No. 1 spot among ad agency holding companies.

But by acquiring True North, which owns ad agency Foote, Cone &
Belding, Interpublic built on its dominance of the sports marketing
consulting business by adding the small but well-respected FCB Sports
Marketing unit. FCB Sports Marketing is the lead sports strategist
for Palm and DirecTV, among others, and does work for
AT&T Wireless, Fox Sports Net and Major League Baseball.
Interpublic also owns Momentum, Octagon and Kaleidoscope Sports
& Entertainment, three of the top five sports marketing consulting
firms in the world, according to SportsBusiness Journal estimates.